Moving any retail space is quite a different job than when moving a home. With a clothing store, there is also more to consider than just moving the clothing (and even that is going to be different than the advice we give to homeowners). Vancouver store movers know that there will be operational equipment, furnishings and fixtures that need to be disassembled with the right tools, or handled with care. And, retail supplies are not like ordinary furniture. If retail store movers don’t do their job correctly, any broken or missing pieces of a store can affect revenue at worst, and result in a mismanaged, frustrating store to shop in, at best. But, sometimes moving to a new commercial retail space is necessary – either to downsize your costs, or grow the traffic needed in your store. With that in mind, we’ll give you some tips on how to move a clothing retail shop. Even if you plan on hiring professional store movers to do the job for you, it’s good to be equipped with the knowledge you’ll need to know if they’re doing a good job. Thoroughly discuss moving rates, ask questions and plan for the unpredictable level of inventory to move When you get an in-person estimate to move a clothing retail store, one question that will come up is: how much inventory are we moving? Let’s say your store is moving in two months. You’ll be getting deliveries or supplies in that time, to keep the store stocked. Or will you? What if you aim for liquidation, but don’t know how much you’ll...

If you are thinking of moving in Vancouver, you probably have a checklist of what you want in your new home, and perhaps even your new neighbourhood. If you have children, one major item you should add to this checklist is proximity to schools. However, you don’t want to move close to just any school. Follow this quick guide to find a good school for your kids before your Vancouver move. Think about schools before you buy a new house in Vancouver When you are going house hunting in Vancouver, keep in mind the options for your children’s schools. If you want them to stay at their current school, will moving to this area mean driving more? Is it doable? Will you have to apply for cross boundary attendance with your school board? Otherwise, if you have another school in mind, find out what the catchment area is. There may be certain neighbourhoods you want to focus your house hunting in. Their age or grade may make a difference here too. If they are about to graduate high school, the commute to a cross-boundary school may be worth it, and you can decide to stop your school hunt altogether. They can graduate with all their friends, take classes with teachers they know, and continue getting guidance from their academic counsellors when applying for universities, scholarships or bursaries. Plus, older kids will know how to take the bus to get to school! So that’s less driving for caregivers! If they’re quite young, the story may be different. Losing friends will be hard, but they can make new ones too. There...

It’s dry season, and yearly for B.C. residents that means wildfires, as well as other fire safety precautions. But have you ever considered what would happen if your home, business, community centre or church ever caught on fire? How bad would the damage be? How would you recover from a fire? See the story of this historical hotel recently damaged by a fire in B.C. Chances are, after everyone’s safety is addressed, you’ll go through a lengthy, tedious and specialized process to salvage your belongings (if they can be recovered at all). You’ll also likely need to re-locate after a fire. In between, your things will need to be moved – sometimes to a special facility – and then back to their original spot in your home. And so, salvaging belongings from a fire, and moving after a fire in B.C. often go together. In this article, we’ll give some tips on what to expect, and what to do, if you are recovering from fire damage. Know that fire damage is not just from flames: water and smoke will ruin most belongings not turned to ashes Fire smoke, soot and the water used to put out the fire can be the biggest determinant of whether or not your belongings can be salvaged at all. This is where fire restoration companies come into play. This restoration specialist explains what the process may be like (though we don’t claim to sponsor or promote any one company). As you’ll see, everything will need to be moved out before it can be salvaged. If you watch the second video on this news...

When you run a commercial retail food establishment, moving is not as simple as when you move house. And it’s also quite different than moving an office or other type of business. Before making the decision to move – if you have the choice – you’ll want to realize how many parts of your business can be affected. Your list of things to do will be vast – probably more work than when you set up your business to begin with. In this article, we’ll go into some considerations when doing a commercial move for a coffee shop or cafe in Vancouver. Licensing your coffee shop or cafe when you move to a new municipality If you move your coffee shop or cafe to a new city or municipality, your licensing fees and terms may change. Different cities in Metro Vancouver will have different rules for businesses. Be sure that you have the appropriate license to operate, before you open at your new location. Marketing material updates when you move a business As we discussed in our article on preserving SEO when you move a business, your address updates will be important. This is not something you want to leave on the back burner. You’ll want to change your address on all your marketing material, and all website mentions. In today’s age of Yelp searches for local eats, you can’t afford not to do this for a coffee shop or cafe business that is moving. To avoid confusion, also update your print material (such as business cards) or any paraphernalia. You may also...

Relocation Packages and Long Distance Moves When you work for a company, and they ask you to move in Canada to take a new position in another city, you may get a relocation package. Relocation packages can come in the form of stipends for moving, salary bonuses, temporary housing, long distance moving services covered by the company, or other help getting settled in to your new home (and life!). In this article, we’ll discuss what you should know about relocation packages when you move in Canada for a job. Relocation expenses are not tax benefits for companies, usually According to the CRA, the expenses of moving an employee to a new city are not eligible for tax deductions. See this page: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/pyrll/bnfts/prvdd/mvng/menu-eng.html However, depending on the circumstance, an employee may be able to claim relocation costs as taxable benefits. See this page for more info: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/pyrll/bnfts/prvdd/mvng/txbl-eng.html There may also be taxable benefits if you get a home relocation loan by your company. See this page for more info: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/pyrll/bnfts/prvdd/mvng/hm-eng.html This article on Monster.ca also covers this topic: https://www.monster.ca/career-advice/article/tax-deductions-when-moving-for-work-or-school Relocation packages can include temporary accommodation, or company housing Sometimes, people who have to relocate for their jobs are put up in a home paid for by the company – for them and their family. It might be cheaper for the company than paying for you to travel a lot on business. If you are asked to find the accommodation, for reimbursement later, check out our article on this topic here: Finding temporary accommodation when doing a cross country move in Canada You can negotiate your relocation package...

If you like the idea of having a hobby farm, or just the benefits of easy access to farm produce, urban farming may be for you. But if you’re living in an apartment, or a suite without a yard, that can be hard. And if you’re living in a city that doesn’t allow animal raising in your yard, you may not be able to live your chicken dreams. So where can you move in Metro Vancouver or the Fraser Valley to keep an urban backyard chicken coop? We’ll explore your options in this article! Move to the City of Vancouver so you can have a chicken coop It may be hard to imagine the small Vancouver lots having enough room for a backyard urban farm – no less one with a chicken coop. But yes, if you move to Vancouver, you can set up a chicken coop in your yard, and the city encourages it! Only four though. They’re not totally crazy, sheesh. In Vancouver, you have to register your chickens, however. You also have to follow some rules to keep things under control (we can’t have chickens roaming around our streets, attracting rodents or spreading disease, of course). You can’t have roosters, which we think would be an obvious bylaw for such a venture. Keep your neighbours happy by not waking them up at dawn! Also, while you may love that down to earth lifestyle, you can’t slaughter chickens in your urban Vancouver farm. But, chickens rarely result in complaints, so you should be ok. In short: don’t move to Vancouver for a chicken coop...